Six Flags Great Adventure (SFGAdv) Discussion Thread

[boldikus]

Bundle up CADers, gonna be cold in the park tonight! I'll be there... with layers on!

[michaellynn4]

I'll be there, too, but probably won't get there until later. The main drawback for working in Delaware! (Aside from the fact that I have to be in, you know, Delaware)

[boldikus]

^ Awesome! Keep an eye out for me, say Hi if you see us - I'll be with a small group. Convinced the boss to let me out early (he understands the enthusiast struggle, lol) so we should arrive right around 5pm.

[B&MIntaminGCI]

I'll be there at 5pm. I'm easy to spot. I have a bazillion piercings and tattoos and i'll be dressed in all black.

[woolandmammoth]

If you skipped Coasters after Dark, you missed out! Everything was running despite the wind and cold. The longest wait I had all day was 10 minutes for the front row of Kingda Ka. All the ride ops were begging for re-riders and you could essentially stake out your favorite ride and not get off it the whole night.

 

Nitro 6x

El Toro 3x

Kingda Ka 1x

Zoomanjaro 5x

Skull Mountain

Swashbuckling

Skyway

 

We were only there from 6:30 - 9:00. Don't sleep on coasters after dark. Incredible trip.

[boldikus]

yah great night.

 

Bizarro 2x

Superman 1x

Kingda Ka 2x

Zumanjaro 2x

El Toro 10x

 

park was dead, rode the last 8 trains in a row on el toro.

[B&MIntaminGCI]

As with everyone else, great night i got my last few rides on Toro but they were making everyone sit towards the front of the train. Still a wild ride, just not as wild as the back.

 

I don't even know my ride count but we got on everything except Batman because both times we tried to ride it went down for difficulties lol.

[boldikus]

^^^ Yeah sucks they weren't letting us sit in the back, I'm guessing because it was so cold and it was running REALLY slow on the last few hills. Honestly, the last 4-5 rides we did were in the front (3rd row for all of them) were some of my faves. The drop is nowhere near as good but the airtime on the first two hills is insane in the front of the train, wtf. I felt like I got to appreciate riding it in the front tonight, since I ALWAYS ride it in the back. On our two rides right when we got there, we sat in the back, so they were some great first rides of the year for me.

 

Tonight was a blast, feels good to be back in season!!

 

Side note gripe: WTF with 3 stacking trains on a completely ghost town dead Bizarro (got two back to back rides front row) and then one train on Toro and Kingda Ka - rides that actually had a light station wait.

 

Side note achievement: Finally got my fiance on Zumanjaro - she was about to cry on our first ascent but after we dropped she immediately agreed to do it again. They let us stay on in the same spot. It was great both times, my third fave ride in the park after Toro and Nitro.

Edited April 25, 2015 by boldikus

[michaellynn4]

I ended up not being able to make it. I forgot my wallet at work and didn't realize until I was halfway home. I wouldn't have been there until after 8pm. Oh well, glad everyone had fun!!

[B&MIntaminGCI]

^^If that's you in your Icon I'm 99% sure you were sitting two seats ahead of me towards on El Toro when they wouldn't let people sit in the back. I was so frustrated. I like the front but, the actual front. The middle is good, but it's too tame and the rolling thunder hill just doesn't have that oomf.

 

It was running better than when I went 2 weeks ago, it was crawling that day, but yeah like you, i got 2 front rides on Bizarro, back row on Toro, a ton of rerides on Nitro, then did everything else once except for Ka, decided to skip it because it was cold.

 

But overall, it was an awesome night. Won't complain other than Toro only having 1 train and Bizarro having 3.

 

Also note, Nitro wasnt stacking, they had 3 trains when we got there at 4:30, then went down to 2. With the 2 trains, they weren't stacking for my ride, and if they did it was only because the train wasn't out of the station completely.

[boldikus]

When we first got to Bizarro we walked right onto the front row. Air gates were open so we just hopped right on. Didn't notice the three trains until we sat for five minutes on the break run as they checked the restraints on the 2 empty trains in front of us. WTF IS THAT ABOUT!? I know I'm being an entitled enthusiast, but it is a passholder appreciation night, they could put a little more thought into this kind of stuff.

 

I'm a little bummed I missed Nitro entirely but it wasn't a priority and I'm glad I got to marathon the hell out of that bull tonight.

[Devins3]

Great Adventure is a hard park to beat on a good day and today was that day. I did not wait even a one train wait for anything. 4 rerides on Nitro in the dark was heavenly, even though the train I was on was quite rough (for Nitro). I believe it was the A train. Earlier in the day I was in the other train and it was smooth as butter. What is up with having one train really rough the past couple years? I would think all the wheels get changed in the off season but I guess not. Great night! When is the fall family night this year? These events are just the best time to go to GADV, 4 hr park wide ERT!

[coasterbill]

^^^ Yeah sucks they weren't letting us sit in the back, I'm guessing because it was so cold and it was running REALLY slow on the last few hills.

 

They test it a lot with all the dummies in the front when it's cold so I'm sure they were just trying to make sure it didn't valley. I know I always say this but Great Adventure's weather policy is something to marvel at. It seems like besides Kingda Ka the policy is just "ignore the weather, hit the dispatch button and then hope it doesn't valley... after all there's only one way to find out".

 

I don't think there are many parks in the U.S. that would have let people ride the coaster if they were so unsure about it's ability to make it around the track that they made everyone sit in the front. Other than a few launch coasters that are designed to roll back (I've seen Dragster and Volcano do it early in the day) I've never seen this.

 

If they keep this YOLO mindset about weather during Holiday in the Park then Holiday in the Park is guaranteed to be amazing.

[coasterfreak101]

^I actually once was put on what was originally going to be a test train with a few mechanics on a cold morning because they 'needed more weight up front' on Superman at SFA. Definitely didn't expect to make it over the last few hills, especially after it had valleyed there a week before!

[boldikus]

 

If they keep this YOLO mindset about weather during Holiday in the Park then Holiday in the Park is guaranteed to be amazing.

 

I thought about this a bunch last night, we even talked about how in a way it was a good test run for the park to see what they can really do w/ the rides during HITP. It actually made me more excited that we have that to look forward to. It got really cold after the sun went down but everything seemed to be running all the way up until 9. We got our last Toro ride exactly at 9pm.

 

I really love that the park does CAD. It was such a great night and I'm glad I was able to share it with some non-passholder friends for so cheap. I'm totally looking forward to the park hopefully sending me the feedback survey and I've thought about writing to them to thank them for the event. For my few grips about the amount of trains running on certain things it really is an amazing night and made more amazing by the fact that they don't really advertise it. IMO it alone is worth the price of a season pass.

 

These events are just the best time to go to GADV, 4 hr park wide ERT!

 

Exactly this. For all we rode, we took our time between rides and still got to do a ton. Like someone else said the ops were practically begging for people to re-ride, especially on Toro and Ka. Walking between rides all night = empty paths. I would have had a blast w/o the half hour nighttime Toro marathon finale.

 

I have some pics I'll post up later, gotta go run some errands.

[YoshiFan]

Great Adventure is a hard park to beat on a good day and today was that day. I did not wait even a one train wait for anything. 4 rerides on Nitro in the dark was heavenly, even though the train I was on was quite rough (for Nitro). I believe it was the A train. Earlier in the day I was in the other train and it was smooth as butter. What is up with having one train really rough the past couple years? I would think all the wheels get changed in the off season but I guess not. Great night! When is the fall family night this year? These events are just the best time to go to GADV, 4 hr park wide ERT!

 

Unfortunately they stopped having Fall Family Night. Either 2011 or 2012 was the last year they had it when Fright Fest started to begin in mid September. In 2013 when they were open Friday nights in September it was basically the same thing as a season pass night since the park was so empty but they stopped that too since attendance was so low on those nights.

[boldikus]

As promised, here are a few pictures. I won't bore you with a big report but if you want to read one, I posted a more thorough play-by-play of the night (and more photos) over on my blog.

[Genx24]

^ I particularly like that last shot. Something about the partly blurry train. I've been severely lacking in ride time this year, and need to get back to GAdv post haste.

[YoshiFan]

Today was more crowded than the past 3 Sundays, maybe because today was the final day for to process the passes with the free parking offer when 2 or more passes were purchased.

 

Twister is still closed and Zumanjaro continues to have problems. It broke down when I was next to ride 2 weeks ago and last week when everyone was buckled and and about to dispatch. Today it broke down earlier in the day and then broke down at around 5:30 and I don't think ever reopened. El Toro also broke down twice including when the train I was in got to the brake run. With Zumanjaro breaking down, everyone seems to be going to Kingda Ka with it having a line of around 45 minutes even at 7:00.

[coasterbill]

boldikus I can always count on you for a Skyway photo. You have your priorities straight.

 

Anyway, we went to the park yesterday for our second visit of the season but it felt like the first as last time we visited Nitro and El Toro valleyed / stalled and we never got to ride them and Kingda Ka / Zumanjaro were closed all day too.

 

There's not much to report really... we spent the entire day and had a great time, I didn't really notice any major differences from last year. Just a few quick things to point out.

 

- Stubbs, the lion cub at Camp Aventura is still ridiculously cute (and that's not a word I throw around much in public, lol). Everyone needs to go see Stubbs.

 

- Kingda Ka now has someone with a megaphone standing near the launch track. I guess they're making sure nobody has any loose articles and everyone keeps their hands down and head back. The guy yesterday was awesome. At one point he announced.. "We're waiting on Zumanjaro, which is really stupid but whatever so I'm gonna sing you a song"... and then broke into a song about how Kingda Ka is his favorite rocket ship (or something) while waiting for Zumanjaro. I wish I knew the guys name... he was awesome and really funny.

 

- Zumanjaro broke down a ton yesterday which is always great news since Kingda Ka's line actually moved at a decent speed. It's been awhile since we've ridden Kingda Ka but I'll never get over how awesome it is in the front row.

 

- Without even thinking about it I wore a Fury 325 shirt to the park yesterday. I never buy coaster shirts as most of them look ridiculous and I try to keep my coaster nerdiness to a minimum but it's an understated shirt so I bought it and wore it because it's warm. While we were in line for El Toro one of the security guys (I didn't get his name) noticed and was asking about Fury and how long I waited for it because he had heard it was a great ride. I just said "it wasn't too bad" and then he goes... "well down there they know how to roll trains so it wouldn't be. Here we're terrible at that". I thought that was really funny. We didn't even know how to respond so we just laughed.

 

- I've read a lot of reports that El Toro is a little rougher than normal this year. If there's one thing I've learned it's to never listen to enthusiasts about anything ever. Good words to live by because El Toro was as smooth and awesome as ever. Maybe it's not on a wheel seat, but we always sit one row from the back because it's the best seat on the train.

 

- Great job by Six Flags to run both sides of the Skyway

 

- We love Batman more and more every time we ride it. I love Kingda Ka, Nitro and Bizarro but after El Toro I think Batman is the best ride in the park. It's just such a forceful and awesome ride... I'll never get tired of it.

 

- El Diablo actually looks really nice where it is.

 

== Ride Count because while I hide my coaster nerdiness in person when I'm online I go all out==

 

El Toro x3

Skyway x2

Kingda Ka x1

Parachutes x1

Bizarro x1

Safari x1

Sky Screamer x1

Nitro x1

Batman x1

 

If we had more time we would have probably rode Zumanjaro, Superman and Skull Mountain but I don't consider any of those "must rides".

 

Overall we had a great time! We're so lucky to have a coaster lineup like this just a few hours away.

[Genx24]

after El Toro I think Batman is the best ride in the park.

A few years ago, I would have scoffed and given an argument as to why Nitro is the best, but now I have to agree. Batman, for being 22 years old, blows all the other B&Ms in the park away. It has been running so smoothly the past couple of years that it seems almost new. In the past on my visits, I wouldn't mind if I skipped Batman, but now it's always a must. I can't wait for it to run backwards.

[boldikus]

boldikus I can always count on you for a Skyway photo. You have your priorities straight.

 

Whats funny about this is as I was taking the pic (as I have done in the past) I thought "Is that only 1 side they are running!? Coasterbill would not be pleased..." LMAO

 

Kingda Ka now has someone with a megaphone standing near the launch track. I guess they're making sure nobody has any loose articles and everyone keeps their hands down and head back.

 

LOL we saw someone doing this too on Friday but couldn't hear them at all. Too funny. I guess the recording is not working so they have to have an employee stand there and say it?

 

El Diablo actually looks really nice where it is.

 

Agree 100%. It looks great there but have to say its looks tiny in front of KK/Zum. I don't even care about riding this but was really hoping they'd have it open Friday for passholder preview. No dice. There was a guy that I assume was working on electrical stuff on Friday, or at least it looked that way.

 

Nitro x1

 

Assuming you didn't ride Train A? Hearing from everyone its shaking so bad this year that it feels like its going to fall apart, and I'd assume you would mention that. As I said we didn't even get over to that side of the park Friday. Happy on one hand hearing about the bad train but kinda regretting we skipped it now. Whatever, I'll be back up there soon.

 

We're so lucky to have a coaster lineup like this just a few hours away.

 

THIS. We really are.

Edited April 27, 2015 by boldikus

[El Toro_Ryan]

- Kingda Ka now has someone with a megaphone standing near the launch track. I guess they're making sure nobody has any loose articles and everyone keeps their hands down and head back. The guy yesterday was awesome. At one point he announced.. "We're waiting on Zumanjaro, which is really stupid but whatever so I'm gonna sing you a song"... and then broke into a song about how Kingda Ka is his favorite rocket ship (or something) while waiting for Zumanjaro. I wish I knew the guys name... he was awesome and really funny.

 

Haha the megaphone position isn't permanent but it might be around for the next few weeks. Btw, that guy's name is Matt! He's one of my co-workers.

[coasterbill]

^^ lol we made sure we missed Train A. We just acted like we were trying to line up with someone and asked if anyone wanted to go ahead of us, we used to do that last year with train C.

 

The train we rode was running great.

 

^ I kind of wish the megaphone was permanent honestly. It's fun. And in that case Matt's doing a great job.

[woolandmammoth]

I also noticed the Mega-phone instead of the regular auto-speiler they have. I thought it was pretty funny. hard to believe Kingda Ka is 10 years old.